A/N: I've been trying to improve the way I write and stuff. I hope I'm making progress even if just a little by little ;)

Chapter 18. Obstacles

Whatever the woman named Sachiko's connection to her past, Yumi didn't know yet. But ever since that time that the woman came into their house, she noticed her mother looking worried most of the time, as if she wanted to lock her inside the house.

And Kenji/Yuuki and her father didn't leave her out of their sight. They were more protective than ever.

She wanted to ask why, but she feared the answer. She wished her memory would come back now. Although ever since she heard the name Sachiko, there were few more flashes in her mind of events of her talking to that woman.

Moreover, she realized that Sachiko was the woman that's been calling her in her dreams, that it was also her who's been crying in her dreams.

She's now sure that Sachiko played an important part in her life. However, she needed to confirm that.

"But how am I going to do it?"

She didn't even know how to contact that woman. And if she did, how was she going to escape from her parents' and brother's watchful eyes.

---o---

"Sachiko, what happened? Sei said that you talked to Yumi-chan's parents? What did they say?" Youko asked worriedly.

Sachiko looked so tired and lonely.

Sei said that it was indeed Yumi-chan. Then why the defeated look in Sachiko's face?

"She doesn't remember me, Onee-sama. Yumi has amnesia," Sachiko said painfully. With amnesia or not, the thought of Yumi forgetting her hurt really bad. And the fact that Yumi's parents didn't want her associating anymore with their daughter made the matter worse. She had Yumi again, but she can't be with her.

"Most of what she knows was what had been told to her. She knew her real name because she remembered it, and her parents admitted it. She knows some of her past through her family, but not about Lillian. She knows about the accident, but I don't think she knows the exact thing that happened or the reason behind it. She isn't aware of our existence, Onee-sama. And even if she remembered some, there's no guarantee that she will remember everything. She may or may not remember us anymore, that her lost memory may or may not come back again."

"But how did it happen?" Youko asked gently, seeing the pain in Sachiko's eyes.

"She was in coma for a year after the accident," Sachiko started. She hated that she wasn't by Yumi's side that time. She should have been there with her. If only…

"A year!" Youko exclaimed.

"Yes. She lived through the advance technology in medicine. But when she finally woke up, she couldn't remember anything. They said that Yumi's head was badly hurt in the accident, that she barely survived, that for some time they thought she wouldn't make it," Sachiko continued in a broken voice.

Youko was silent for a moment, before she said gently, "You suffered too, Sachiko, more than anyone else, more than Yumi-chan. It wasn't your fault that those things happened. Stop blaming yourself anymore. Don't dwell on the past. What is important is the future. Forget the past and move on, now with Yumi-chan. Do what you have to do. I will always be here to support you. Sei and I would be always at your back. I'm sure our friends, too, once they found out."

Sachiko looked at the gentle features of the big sister that she loved so much, and loved her, too.

"Yes, Onee-sama."

Sachiko was thoughtful for a moment.

"I've committed a lot of mistakes when it came to Yumi. First, my inability to protect her during our relationship, then being stupid about the mobile phone, then not finding everything about Yumi before seeing her when I already told myself that I wouldn't proceed without information."

"Don't be too hard on yourself. It's difficult to think clearly when you just found out that someone you thought was dead was actually alive."

"I don't want to commit anymore mistakes. I want to make sure that this time, he couldn't and wouldn't interfere anymore. I'll worry about being with Yumi next time. Once and for all, I have to take care of him. Only then can I truly take the steps towards Yumi. It was what I should have done in the first place instead of barging into Yumi's life without being truly prepared," she said determinedly.

"And I'll need your help again, Onee-sama," she added.

"Anything in my power is at your disposal, my dear sister."

---o---

"Mom, Dad, Yuuki, I'd like to ask you something," Yumi started one night that her whole family was at the living room having a casual chat.

"Aya, I told you not to use that name," her Mom said disapprovingly.

"But Mom, we're alone here. You don't think someone is watching us right now, are you? Besides, they probably know already our real names," she said carefully. She saw her Mom tensed, while the two males in her family acted normal.

"What is it then, Yumi?" Yuuki asked, avoiding their Mom's eyes when she looked his way.

"Who is Sachiko in my life?" She asked without any preamble.

The three people addressed were silent for a moment, before her Mom started to say that she didn't know any person named Sachiko.

"Mom, please. I've met her several times already."

The three members of her family looked at her with surprise. They didn't know that.

"Remember, Yuuki, when I bumped into someone in a restaurant before? It was her. And then I met her again not too long ago, in a restaurant when I had a luncheon meeting with our supposed to be client. And then I saw her again, here in our house, Mom, Dad. Please tell me what you know about her and her connection to me."

Everyone was silent after her declaration. Her Mom looked at her accusingly for hiding the truth from them, but she avoided her gaze. She wanted to know the truth now, because it's driving her mad thinking about Sachiko and what she was in her life, why she's been dreaming about her over and over, and why did she say to her parents last time that her family owed a lot from theirs.

"She was your Onee-sama in high school, Yumi," Yuuki finally said. He thought that probably, it's time that his sister finds out some of the truth. He wanted her real sister back, not the one that had been created through information that they provided for her. Even though her character didn't change, he still wanted the real Yumi that he used to know.

How many times had he come to her room when she was having nightmares? Yumi may not remember any of those nightmares, but he, the ever present witness to those, knew who it was about, because in her nightmares, Yumi was calling Sachiko. No other name came out of her lips during those times except Sachiko. She may not remember her, but her heart surely did.

"Onee-sama?"

The word felt special to Yumi, like she had used to say it many times in the past, and was called like that before, like…

"Yes."

"Why Onee-sama? What does it…why is she…" She didn't know which question to ask first.

"It's not important at the moment," Yuuki cut off.

"It's just some sort of tradition in your high school. Point is, you and Sachiko-san knew each other from high school"

"And?" Yumi prompted, eager to hear more.

"Yuuki that's enough…"

"She's one of your close friends, Yumi," he continued, while giving an apologetic look to their Mom. What he said though, was an understatement of the truth.

"And you're with her when the accident happened."

Yumi's eyes widened. She and Sachiko both met that accident? Something wanted to flash in her mind, but it won't come clearly, making her head hurt as she tried to recall it.

"That's enough," her Dad said for the first time seeing her holding her head.

"What happened to her after the accident?" She continued. She wouldn't let the headache stop her from finding out the truth.

"She wasn't badly hurt by the accident. At least compared to you," Yuuki continued.

Yumi felt relief at that. She didn't like it if Sachiko was hurt badly. Now why was that?

Was it because Yuuki said that they were close, and that she's her Onee-sama.

"Why don't you want her to see me, Mom? Dad?"

Her Mom and Dad were silent for a moment. She saw her Mom reached for her Dad's hands and held on them tightly, worriedly.

Dad squeezed her hands, before he spoke, "Her family was the reason that you had an accident, remember? Stay away from her, Yumi-chan."

"Huh? But why?"

She didn't understand. She and Sachiko were together at the accident and then they were saying that Sachiko's family caused the accident? Why would they do that to their own family member?

"They didn't like their daughter associating with common people. We are but a poor family, while they are among the wealthiest in Japan if not in the world."

She gasped in surprise.

"And they caused the accident only because of that reason?"

Somehow, she didn't believe that's the reason. That it's enough reason to do something rash like causing an accident. There must be something deeper than that.

"It is a disgrace to their family to be associated with common people. They are proud and they care so much about their name."

But Sachiko didn't seem like that. True, she had the bearing of a princess, but what she saw in her eyes before were sadness, and longing, and anger, and gentleness.

She looked at Yuuki's direction as if asking him to contradict their father, but he avoided her eyes. They wouldn't tell her more. If she wanted to find out the truth, then she must do it herself.

'Where am I going to start? How?'

A/N: Next will be focused on Sachiko and Grandpa.

---Arvendell---

04 November 2008

08:30 AM